a double-edged sword
/ə ˌdʌbl ˌedʒd ˈsɔːd/NEUTRAL · C1
Meaning
something that has both good and bad effects
Examples
- 1Working from home is a double-edged sword: no commute, but you can feel lonely.
- 2Fame can be a double-edged sword for young musicians.
- 3Social media is a double-edged sword for small shops, bringing customers but also angry reviews.
- 4The bonus scheme turned out to be a double-edged sword, since staff earned more but stopped helping each other.
- 5For many students a part-time job is a double-edged sword, because it pays the bills but eats into study time.
Grammar
A countable noun phrase, often after be or can be. double-edged is written with a hyphen.
More idioms about problems and trouble
All 20 idioms and the topic quiz →in hot waterin trouble and likely to be punished or criticisedthe last strawthe final problem that makes a situation impossible to acceptget to the bottom ofto find out the real cause of something or the truth about itthe tip of the iceberga small visible part of a much larger problembe asking for troubleto act in a way that will probably cause problems for youmake a mountain out of a molehillto treat a small difficulty as if it were serious
English Idioms400 idioms in 20 topics — with reviews that keep them from fading
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